Rascal's Learning to Drive

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Always check tyre pressures when they are cold, using the car generates heat therefore you get a false pressure reading.

[LondonRascal]

I was half way through a long winded reply and 'explanation to the Internet' for the fact I am a new driver counts for much to do with experience on the road, I am not new to cars and running them, dealing with things on them and so on. But this time I will keep things short.

You see the car when I bought it did not have run-flat tyres on it, indeed the front pair, while new were a budget brand I could find nothing good to say about them. They were okay until it rained and on the uneven country roads around Norfolk were down right scary.  The rear tyres were Dunlop, with over 5mm of tread left but I decided to go for four new tyre and get away from Dunlop which tend to not have the same hard wearing properties as other manufactures.

To be honest, having read up on PistonHeads and Bimmerfest many were talking of the virtues of non-run flat tyres - the 7 Series had them fitted and were very hard riding, noisy things so on the X5 I thought it might be nice to continue to go with non-run flat tyres but spend more on a better brand and compound.  I got in touch with BMW who provided me with a list of approved tyre manufactures and types for the car, with this information I then decided on Michelin as a brand and opted for a 4x4 tyre.

I bought the tyres through BlackCircles.com and they were duly delivered to the fitting centre, I did wonder why the chap there said 'it will take more than hour to do as these are RFT's'. I checked the invoice from BlackCircles which showed they were ZP (Zero Pressure) this stands for having just been out to the car and read up on the side wall and sure enough they are Run Flat's.

This surely explains more than ever the enormous difference I have felt in handling from the non-run flats the car had when I bought it to these new tyres.  I can say the cheaper tyres not being run flat in the dry were quieter and nicer than ever these are, but in the wet the new tyres are far superior. So I have actually 'corrected' an issue and brought the car back into spec - but have I? I now think the car was meant to have non-run flat tyres hence the shallow hole under the boot floor and 'tyre tools'.  X5's could be specced from new not to have run flats, I will be checking with BMW with my VIN number to see if mine was. I will also then find out if it was and now I have run flats on it, is that okay for the RIMs it has fitted.

A word on Insurance - officially you should tell your insurance company if you go from run flat tyres to non, I am not sure about going the other way since I will need to wait offical word from BMW on this, online talk suggests you can easily go from non-run flats to run flat but not the other way around without telling ur insurer.

A word on insurance, I have to say it would need to be a pretty big thing to claim on my policy for since I pay a £5,000 excess. I will pass on that Volvo - would cost me over £100.00 more a year to tax than the X5 and cost me £414.23 more to insure too!

[JennyMorgan]

Robin, when in Norfolk do as Norfolk does!

[BroadAmbition]

My Boy works for Claas, he sells / buys all manner of em.  Here's one he made earlier:-

Griff

 

[ScrumpyCheddar]

You bought a car with normal tyres on the front and run flats on the back... That would of set alarm bells ringing straight way..... especially with budget blow outs on the front....

Well that tells you it should be running run flats on all four wheels on that vehicle...

So basically you was sold a vehicle what was illegally unsafe for the road... what made the MOT invalid straight away... Instant MOT Failure... 

If I was you I would go back to that dealer and asked why he sold you a car with mixed tyres on it and you had to change them at your expense!! 

You don’t ever mix tyres... like years ago you was aloud to mix cross plys on the front and radials on the rear...  but not the other way around....

[Jbx5]

Hi Robin the cars are designed, built and tested on run flats, admitadly the first run flats a few years ago weren’t brilliant but these days there’s hardly any difference in them to standard tyres. 

I drive 25k a year on them and have done for the last 15 years.  Too many myths on the internet putting people’s lives in danger.

John

[WherryNice]

1 hour ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:

So basically you was sold a vehicle what was illegally unsafe for the road... what made the MOT invalid straight away... Instant MOT Failure...  

Hey folks,

Mixing regular tyres and runflat tyres, even on the same axle, is not an MOT failure. Interestingly the rules for radial/cross ply tyres have changed slightly too, they are now only not allowed on the same axle regardless of front/rear fitment.

 

[Stranger]

i hope the new tyres are star rated or expext problems!!!

 

[ScrumpyCheddar]

2 hours ago, WherryNice said:

Hey folks,

Mixing regular tyres and runflat tyres, even on the same axle, is not an MOT failure. Interestingly the rules for radial/cross ply tyres have changed slightly too, they are now only not allowed on the same axle regardless of front/rear fitment.

 

Lots of Tyre Regs have changed over the years.... tread depths.. tread size... crossply always heated up more under stress... Due how the tyre was built in its construction... That’s why manufacturers switched to radial because the construction of a radial causes less heat build up under stress....

This is why mixing tyres is a big no no... As many Garages MOT will fell as having non matching tyres fitted to the wrong vehicle... Reading the very very small print on tyre regs for MOTs is absolutely crazy...  speed rating... load rating and so on.... 

As EU regulations 2012 TPMS tyre pressure monitoring system what’s fitted on all cars now have to be working correctly for MOT if not that is a fail...

[KaptinKev]

I think Robin has a doppelganger, as I'm sure I saw him last year driving a very polished Range Rover and along with feeding the steering wheel through his hands, he really looked 'by the book' Robin to me!

[vanessan]

14 hours ago, KaptinKev said:

feeding the steering wheel through his hands

Exactly how a good driver should drive (mostly).

[pks1702]

On 06/01/2019 at 17:23, Jbx5 said:

Hi Robin the cars are designed, built and tested on run flats, admitadly the first run flats a few years ago weren’t brilliant but these days there’s hardly any difference in them to standard tyres. 

I drive 25k a year on them and have done for the last 15 years.  Too many myths on the internet putting people’s lives in danger.

John

I have had BMW cars for the last 15 years last 10 with Run Flats.

After a 525d I had literally eat the low profile tyres on it I was that adept at changing tyres Williams wanted me to do a stint! I for one was quite happy with Run flats not least that a blow out at high speed was manageble rather than potentially life threatening.

There is much tosh talked about run flat and non run flat and the differnces these make, unless on a track you will never feel the difference.

I am on my second X5 M Sport this one is the 4.0D previous was an M50D which was far more power than I needed, you could quickly lose your licence.... this 'a performance' car also had run flats. Many people who claim they can feel a difference between the two tyre types change their mind when you take the thing out of comfort and put it into sport which stiffens suspension and increases throttle response.

[finny]

In the event of an insurance claim the assessor will usually check that the tyre rating on the tyre is correct for that vehicle  so thats important to get right . i personally run my 4x4 on all terrain tyres purely and simply because of where i live i used to swap to bridgestones run flats after the winter but considering i do very low mileage these days i dont bother  . interestingly we got new neighbours a few years ago who bought a 4x4 Q7 thinking it would be the answer to all his problems in terms of bad weather and a snowfall at the first sign of any snow the dam thing was useless  as it was fitted with sports tyres and he struggled getting it off a flat drive in a straight line - but when he put the right tyres on for the winter it became a different beast so  i guess your usage is a vital factor when choosing what style of tyre on a 4x4 always remember .........you wouldnt go climb a mountain in a pair of house slippers .....and that's my outlook towards a tyres performance  

 

finny   

[ChrisB]

I buy a new car between 3 and 4 years (silly really because they have normally only done about 25K miles) if I knock out the tyres and I do tend to change when there is still plenty of tread as you can normally notice  change in handling, I fit Michelin Cross Climate. I have found they are just that, good, quiet cruising tyres in summer with excellent grip on snow in winter. Not up to a full winter tyre admittedly but we don't tend to get very deep snow in Norfolk.

[grendel]

I have only once wished for winter tyres, and that was last year driving to work when the beast from the east hit, there was snow and ice on the motorways which made it difficult and the car was recording -13, but I still got into work (to find they had shut the office for the day due to people not being able to get in - I made it - all 61 miles, so why anyone more local than me could not get in makes me wonder, in the end there were just 3 of us in the office that day. that one day I could have used winter tyres, for the rest of the year standard tyres were fine, and in fact as I proved, the standard tyres did cope with the bad weather, but only just.

[MauriceMynah]

Ahh yes Grendel, but YOU know how to drive. There are many who seem to have no idea. If they manage to move at all after spinning the wheels, they go far too fast and wonder why they literally become "unstuck".

That results in roads becoming blocked which in turn stops proper drivers getting to wherever  they are going. Yes, there are exceptions, good drivers can get stuck, but in the majority of cases, the traffic holdups are driver induced not weather induced.

[ranworthbreeze]

Over many years of driving in the peak district, I have always ha chains. grips or in later years snow tyres. I have always got home, but drifts often dictate a different route.

Regards

Alan

[vanessan]

https://www.autosockdirect.co.uk/shop/product/24234/Autosock/AS600/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdHhBRCwARIsAAhRhsnDXpmCJ_GZwKMkHhlmvERqdhH40WSDZvdfI0aOYbfDYSjg8grzQC8aAv9REALw_wcB

These things are a ‘get out of jail’ card. You can’t do loads of miles using them or great speeds but they are very useful to keep in the car for when the snow catches you out. 

[grendel]

I have a better option, but once again not useable for other than getting through a really rough spot, they really work to good effect on packed snow and ice, and have the benefit that once I have churned it up, others can follow.

you wouldnt want to do much more than walking pace though- talk about bumpy.

[Baitrunner]

Last time I saw something like that was in a torture chamber. But she was gentle with me!!

[ChrisB]

2 hours ago, vanessan said:

https://www.autosockdirect.co.uk/shop/product/24234/Autosock/AS600/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdHhBRCwARIsAAhRhsnDXpmCJ_GZwKMkHhlmvERqdhH40WSDZvdfI0aOYbfDYSjg8grzQC8aAv9REALw_wcB

These things are a ‘get out of jail’ card. You can’t do loads of miles using them or great speeds but they are very useful to keep in the car for when the snow catches you out. 

I also carry a pair of Michelin Easy Grip Evolution 3 tyre socks, I have never had to use them yet but their promotion video is impressive.

[KaptinKev]

On ‎07‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 12:34, vanessan said:

Exactly how a good driver should drive (mostly).

But now power steering seems to be the norm in a lot of cars, we have got lazy. Along with auto parking, braking, lights on, high beam off,  etc, etc!

[FairTmiddlin]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

you wouldnt want to do much more than walking pace though- talk about bumpy

And if you would like your wheel covers intact. I would remove them or you tend to end up, with just the outside of them left.

[grendel]

ah yes, but that was a previous car, and I now have volvo alloys.

[finny]

quite often overlooked but with regards driving in winter weather conditions being able to stop my vehicle safely is a major factor - its all fine and dandy using chains,socks and whatever but can you stop should you need too ?

 

finny